Laying hens, expert level specialisation
From pullet to culling: steering lay week by week
Introduction
The brown laying hen track of the NEXTEKCI School gives the basics: starting chicks, rearing a pullet, following a laying curve. This specialisation goes further and trains the technician who runs a layer house week by week, from the pullet's first day to the sale of the cull hens. Ten lessons, written by a field trainer for Côte d'Ivoire (open-sided houses, heat, rainy season), with a common thread: a house of 2,000 Novogen Brown layers on the floor, at about 5 hens per m², which serves as the worked example from start to finish. You will learn to build the perfect pullet (weight curve, uniformity, lighting programme in an open-sided house), to succeed in the transfer and the rise in lay without losses, to read the laying curve hen-day and hen-housed, to measure the shell and trace every egg defect back to its cause, to calculate feed, calcium and water in grams actually eaten, to set light, nests and density against pecking and floor eggs, to compare cage, floor and aviary with your own figures, and to decide the end of the flock: culling, moult without cruelty, selling the hens, sanitary break. The last two lessons are practical work: keeping the laying record of a house for two weeks, then writing the diagnosis of a 12-point drop in lay. Diseases are described, never treated: the vaccination programme and care remain those of the area's veterinarian. Open from free registration.
By the end of this specialisation, you will be able to
- ✓Rear a uniform pullet at the right weight and bring her into lay without losses, with a lighting programme under control in an open-sided house
- ✓Read and steer the laying curve every week (peak, persistence, slope, drops) hen-day and hen-housed, and explain any drop with evidence
- ✓Master egg quality and the layer's feed: shell, size, dirty and cracked eggs, evening coarse calcium, grams actually eaten, water and heat
- ✓Decide the end of the flock with your own figures: lay threshold, culling or moult without cruelty, sale of cull hens, 14-day sanitary break
10 lessons · a 5-question quiz after each lesson · an exam (20 questions, 80%) · verifiable specialisation certificate. Specialisation open to every registered student, in any order.
- 1The perfect pullet: weight curve, uniformity, lighting programme during rearing
Everything a layer house will give over a year is decided before the first egg. A pullet that reaches 18 weeks at the right weight, in a uniform flock, with a lighting programme that was respected, will come into lay quickly, hold her peak and keep strong shells until culling. A late pullet or an uneven flock will give a soft curve that nothing will recover. This lesson takes pullet rearing to the technician's level: we measure, we calculate, we decide week by week.
What you will learn- ✓Build and read the weight curve of a flock of pullets, and quantify a delay
- ✓Calculate the uniformity of a flock (percentage within the range and coefficient of variation) and act on an uneven flock
- ✓Run the rearing lighting programme in an open-sided house, and decide the date of the first stimulation
- ✓Prepare the pullet for lay: skeleton, feed, water, calm
Lesson outline- What we call a perfect pullet
- The weight curve: the roadmap of the first 18 weeks
- Uniformity: a flock that comes into lay as one block
- The rearing lighting programme in an open-sided house
- Preparing the pullet for lay: skeleton, feed, water, calm
- Going further
Key points- •Perfect pullet = target weight at 18 weeks (1,480 to 1,580 g), uniformity ≥ 80% (ideally 85%, CV ≤ 8%), lighting programme never increasing before stimulation.
- •Delay = (target − measured) ÷ target × 100; under 3% normal, 3 to 5% we act, over 5% serious; a delay before 8 weeks marks the frame for life.
- •Uniformity: % of pullets within ± 10% of the average, and CV = standard deviation ÷ average; sort the light ones into a separate pen below 80%.
- •In an open-sided house: natural day from 13 to 18 weeks with no lamp at all; first hour when weight ≥ 1,480 g AND uniformity ≥ 80%.
- •Pre-lay (calcium 2 to 2.5%) at the red comb, 16-17 weeks; vaccination = the area veterinarian's programme, finished 2 weeks before transfer.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 2Transfer and onset of lay: preparing the house, managing the rise in lay without losses
Between week 16 and week 25, the pullet becomes a hen: she changes house, discovers nests, receives her first extra hours of light, changes feed twice and goes from zero to over 90% lay. It is the densest period of the whole flock, and the one where you lose the most when you improvise: hens dead from prolapse, floor eggs that become a habit, a missed peak. This lesson gives the technician the calendar, the equipment quantities and the benchmarks of the rise in lay, with the actions that avoid losses.
What you will learn- ✓Size the laying house for a given flock: floor area, nests, feeders, drinkers, perches
- ✓Organise the transfer at 16-17 weeks without loss of weight or time
- ✓Read the rise in lay week by week (5%, 50%, 90%) and set light, feed and weighings on it
- ✓Recognise and prevent the losses of the onset of lay: prolapse, mortality, floor eggs, weight loss
Lesson outline- Why the transfer is a moment apart
- Sizing the laying house: the example of 2,000 hens on the floor
- Transfer day: the procedure
- The rise in lay: reading the three steps
- The losses of the onset of lay: seeing them coming, preventing them
- Going further
Key points- •Transfer at 16-17 weeks, never after 18: the hen must know nests, water and light 2 to 3 weeks before the first egg.
- •For 2,000 hens on the floor (about 5 per m²): 400 m², 1 nest for 5 to 6 (400 nests) or 20 m² of colony nests, 10 to 12 cm of feeder per hen, 1 nipple for 8 to 10, 15 cm of perch per hen.
- •Day D: catching at night by both legs, crates of 10 to 12, water first, nests closed, no light added during the adaptation week.
- •Steps of the rise: 5% → 50% in 2 weeks, 50% → 90% in 2 to 3 weeks; layer feed 1 from 2 to 5%; weekly weighing until 30 weeks.
- •Losses to watch: prolapse (stimulate on weight, dark nests), sudden death, floor eggs (under 3% at 25 weeks), weight loss (feed not following).
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 3Steering the laying curve: peak, persistence, drops, and how to read it every week
The layer track taught you to calculate a laying percentage and plot it. The expert does more: he distinguishes hen-day lay from hen-housed lay, he measures persistence, he knows what a normal drop and an abnormal drop look like, and he reads four figures together every week, not just one. A house of 2,000 layers produces about 1,800 eggs a day at peak: one point of lay is 20 eggs a day, 140 a week, more than 7,000 over the flock. Steering means seeing the point leaving before it has left.
What you will learn- ✓Calculate and distinguish hen-day lay, hen-housed lay and cumulative eggs per hen housed
- ✓Describe the expected curve of a brown layer in an open-sided house: peak, plateau, persistence, slope of decline
- ✓Read the four figures together every week (lay, egg weight, intake, mortality) plus hen weight
- ✓Classify a drop (normal, to watch, abnormal) and trigger the checklist within 24 hours
Lesson outline- Three ways to count lay, three uses
- The expected curve: peak, plateau, persistence, slope
- Reading every week: four figures together, plus weight
- Classifying a drop and triggering the check
- The expert technician's weekly report
- Going further
Key points- •Hen-day lay = eggs ÷ live hens; hen-housed lay = eggs ÷ starting number; the gap between the two is the weight of mortality.
- •Expected curve in an open-sided house: peak 90 to 95% around 28-32 weeks, persistence 18 to 25 weeks above 90%, slope 0.4 to 0.6 point per week afterwards.
- •We read the 7-day moving average, never a single day; and four figures together: egg and intake move 4 to 10 days before lay.
- •Drop: ≤ 0.8 point normal; 1 to 3 points to watch (check within 24 h); > 3 points or mortality > 0.3% abnormal (check within the hour, area's veterinarian the same day).
- •Checklist in order: water, light, feed, heat, disturbances, health; written conclusion with expected recovery and action.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 4Egg quality: shell, size, dirty eggs, cracked eggs, and what makes them vary
A house of 2,000 layers at 90% lay produces 1,800 eggs a day. If 4% are cracked and 3% dirty, that is 126 eggs a day that sell badly or not at all: nearly 900 a week, 45,000 over the flock. Egg quality is not a presentation detail, it is a yield. The track taught you to sort and store; this lesson teaches how to measure the shell, read the size, count the dirty and cracked eggs, and above all trace each defect back to its cause in order to correct it.
What you will learn- ✓Measure shell quality on the farm (shell percentage, thickness) and interpret the result
- ✓Read the change in egg size with age and explain the gaps (protein, hen weight, heat)
- ✓Count and classify dirty and cracked eggs every day, and trace each category back to its cause
- ✓Keep sorting and storage at a level that loses no quality between the nest and the customer
Lesson outline- Egg quality is four measurements
- Measuring the shell on the farm: two simple tests
- Egg size: what makes it go up or down
- Dirty eggs and cracked eggs: count, classify, trace the cause
- Sorting, candling, storage: not losing what we have gained
- Going further
Key points- •Four measurements: shell, size, cleanliness, integrity; targets after 30 weeks: cracked ≤ 2%, dirty ≤ 2%, floor ≤ 1 to 2%, total ≤ 5%.
- •Shell test: 20 eggs, dry shells ÷ eggs × 100; ≥ 9.5% good, < 9% act, < 8.5% alert; thickness 0.35 to 0.40 mm.
- •Thin shell comes first from intake (heat), then from calcium (quantity and particle size), warm water, age; pale or soft shell in series is described to the area's veterinarian.
- •Egg size: pullet weight at the start, protein and methionine actually eaten (g, not %), heat; too big after 60 weeks = breakage.
- •Star crack = shell; clean crack = impact (collection, nest, tray); collect 3 to 4 times a day, trays 6 high, never wash, big end up, in the shade.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 5The layer's feed week by week: calcium, energy, heat, and water
Feed is the largest share of what an egg costs, and it is also the first cause of thin shells, small eggs and drops in lay in Côte d'Ivoire. The layer does not eat the same thing at 18 weeks, at 30 and at 70; she does not eat the same quantity at 26 °C and at 35 °C; and she does nothing without water. This lesson gives the technician the benchmarks week by week, the calculation of quantities for 2,000 hens, the rule of coarse calcium in the evening, and the actions that make a hen eat when it is hot.
What you will learn- ✓Describe the layer's feed phases (pre-lay, layer 1, 2, 3) with their protein, energy and calcium benchmarks
- ✓Calculate the quantities of feed, calcium and water for a house, and check actual intake in grams per hen
- ✓Apply the rule of coarse calcium in the evening and explain why it protects the shell and the skeleton
- ✓Adapt distribution and water on hot days to maintain the grams eaten
Lesson outline- What the hen asks for every day
- The phases, week by week
- Calcium: the rule of coarse calcium in the evening
- Heat: making a hen eat when she is too hot
- Water: half of the feed
- Going further
Key points- •Grams eaten × percentage = grams received: it is the only way to judge a feed; a hen at peak must receive about 20 g of protein and at least 4 g of calcium a day.
- •Phases: pre-lay (Ca 2 to 2.5%) → layer 1 (17-18% protein, Ca 3.5 to 4%) → layer 2 (Ca 4 to 4.2%) → layer 3 (Ca 4.2 to 4.5%); calcium goes up, protein and energy go down; change over 4 days.
- •At least half of the calcium in coarse form (2 to 4 mm), distributed in the late afternoon: it feeds the shell at night and spares the bone.
- •Heat: 40% in the morning, 60% in the evening, water under 28 °C, midnight meal during the wave, more concentrated formula, house at about 5 hens per m².
- •Water = 1.8 to 2 times the feed in mild weather, 3 to 4 times in heat; 2 days of reserve; a 10% fall in water announces the drop in lay.
15 min read · 5-question quiz
- 6Behaviour: pecking, floor eggs, nests, light, density, and the settings that work
A hen pecking her neighbour, a hen laying in a corner, a nest left empty while three hens fight for the one next to it: these are not whims, they are responses to a setting of the house. The layer track described pecking and cannibalism; this lesson teaches the technician to measure behaviour (plumage score, percentage of floor eggs, nest occupation), to trace it back to the setting that causes it (light, density, nests, feed, heat) and to correct it in order, with the figures of a house of 2,000 hens.
What you will learn- ✓Score the plumage of a flock (grid from 1 to 4 on 50 hens) and interpret the change from one month to the next
- ✓Set light (intensity, distribution, nest shade) and density to prevent pecking
- ✓Bring the percentage of floor eggs below 2% through the setting of nests, corners and the morning routine
- ✓Put in place a walk-through routine in the house that calms the hens and detects drifts early
Lesson outline- Reading a house through behaviour
- Pecking: measuring with the plumage score, tracing back to the settings
- Floor eggs: the setting of nests, corners and the morning
- Light and density: the two underlying settings
- The routine that calms: the technician's walk-through
- Going further
Key points- •Behaviour moves before lay and mortality: we read it on entering (distribution, noise, litter, plumage, nests) and we measure it.
- •Plumage score on 50 hens, 1 to 4, every month: average ≤ 1.3 and under 5% at scores 3-4 = calm; beyond, look in order at light, density, feed, heat, occupation, wounds, parasites.
- •Light: uniform 10 to 20 lux, nests under 5 lux, no direct sun (curtains, cloth, overhang); we act on intensity, never on duration (a stable 16 h).
- •Floor eggs: under 2% after 30 weeks; 1 nest for 5 to 6, threshold at 40-50 cm with a step, dark and clean nests, closed at night, meshed corners, map over 3 mornings, 4 walk-throughs per morning for 3 weeks.
- •Floor density in an open-sided house: about 5 hens per m²; above that, queues, floor eggs, pecking, wet litter, and fewer eggs per hen housed in total.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 7Cage, floor, aviary: compare to choose, with your own figures
'Cages are better', 'the floor is simpler', 'the aviary is the future': we hear all three, and none is true for everyone. The choice of housing system is made with units (square metres, hours of work, percentages of dirty eggs, kilos of manure, litres of water), not with opinions. This lesson describes the three systems as they are practised in Côte d'Ivoire, compares them point by point for the same flock of 2,000 layers, and gives the grid in which the entrepreneur puts his own amounts to decide.
What you will learn- ✓Describe the three systems (cage, floor, aviary) with their area and equipment benchmarks
- ✓Compare the systems in technical units for the same flock: area, labour, dirty and floor eggs, manure, water, heat
- ✓Build the decision grid in which the entrepreneur puts his own amounts
- ✓Choose the system that suits his house, his labour and his market, and avoid installation mistakes
Lesson outline- Three systems, three ways of housing the same hen
- The same flock in the three systems: 2,000 layers
- Comparing in units: what each system does to the flock's figures
- The decision grid: your own figures
- Choosing and installing without mistakes
- Going further
Key points- •Three systems: cage (groups in wire compartments, rolling egg), floor (litter, nests, perches), aviary (floor + open platforms); we compare in units, not opinions.
- •For 2,000 hens: cage ≈ 160 to 200 m² of house and 2 to 3 h a day; floor = 400 m² (about 5 per m²) and 4 to 6 h; aviary ≈ 200 m² and 5 to 7 h with pullets reared to climb.
- •Each system moves the problem: cage = perfect equipment and tier heat; floor = floor eggs and litter; aviary = pullet rearing and reading the flock.
- •The decision grid counts in quantities (m², hours, kg, saleable eggs, cull hens, manure); the entrepreneur puts in his amounts and decides; three questions before the grid: area, team, customer.
- •You do not change system during a flock; the aviary demands pullets reared with perches from 3 weeks; a second-hand cage is inspected slope by slope.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 8The end of the flock: culling, moult (decision), selling the hens, sanitary break
A flock of layers does not stop by itself: it stops when we decide, and the date of that decision weighs as much on the result as the peak of lay. Too early, we throw away weeks of still profitable eggs; too late, we feed hens that no longer pay for their feed. In between, there is the question of the moult (restarting the same flock for a second cycle), the sale of the cull hens, and the sanitary break that prepares the next flock. This lesson gives the technician the calculations and the actions of the end of the flock, without cruelty and without loss.
What you will learn- ✓Calculate the lay threshold below which a flock no longer pays for its feed, with the farm's own figures
- ✓Decide culling (72 to 80 weeks) or moult, knowing what a moult gives and demands, and what is ruled out
- ✓Organise the sale of cull hens: preparation, catching, weighing, transport
- ✓Run a complete sanitary break of 14 days minimum, step by step, and prepare the arrival of the next flock
Lesson outline- When a flock stops paying: the lay threshold
- Culling at 72-80 weeks: the three benchmarks
- The moult: what it is, what it gives, and how to decide
- Selling the cull hens without losing weight or hens
- The sanitary break: 14 days that prepare the next flock
- Going further
Key points- •Lay threshold (%) = intake (kg) × R (eggs per kilo of feed) × 100, plus 5 to 8 points of overheads; below this threshold two weeks in a row, the flock costs every day.
- •Culling at 72-80 weeks on three benchmarks: lay threshold, shell under 9% with more than 4-5% cracked, and the pullets' date counted backwards (− 14 days of break − 3 to 5 days of sale and cleaning).
- •Induced moult = second cycle of 25 to 35 weeks at 80-85% after 6 to 8 weeks of stoppage; without cruelty: low feed ad libitum, water ad libitum, natural day, − 20 to − 25% of weight; never water or feed deprivation; justified mainly when pullets are lacking; veterinarian's opinion first.
- •Sale of cull hens (1.9 to 2.1 kg): buyer 3 weeks before, sample weighed, 8 to 10 h fast without removing water, night catching by both legs, covered and early transport.
- •Sanitary break 14 days minimum (21 after disease): rodent control D 0, manure out, washing, 24 h drying, disinfection on dry, rest, reassembly, new litter; flock's balance sheet written during the break.
14 min read · 5-question quiz
- 9Field exercise: keep the laying record of a house for two weeks and read it
Everything the previous eight lessons taught comes together on a single sheet: the laying record. A technician who keeps it well sees a drop coming before it costs; a technician who keeps it badly (or not at all) discovers problems when the entrepreneur counts the trays. This exercise has you keep the record of a real house for fourteen days, with the equipment, the routine, the evening calculations and the Sunday reading. It is presented on our house of 2,000 Novogen Brown at 36-37 weeks; you redo it on yours, whatever the flock size.
What you will learn- ✓Prepare the equipment and the daily laying record of a house, with its 13 columns
- ✓Fill in the record every day for 14 days: counts, weighings, evening calculations
- ✓Do the weekly summary and compare the two weeks (lay, defects, feed, water, mortality, egg weight)
- ✓Read the record like an expert: spot the signals that precede lay, classify the situation and write the decision
Lesson outline- Equipment and record: what is needed before the first day
- The 14-day routine: who does what, at what time
- The completed record: 14 days on the house of 2,000 hens
- The summary: comparing the two weeks
- Reading the record like an expert: the five-step method
- Your turn: the exercise on your house
Key points- •The laying record has 13 columns (present, dead, nests, floor, cracked, dirty, total, lay %, feed kg and g/hen, water and max T°, observations) and is filled in at the moment of counting, never from memory.
- •Essential equipment: water meter, scale, max-min thermometer, three marked buckets; routine at the same times by the same person.
- •The Sunday summary compares 12 indicators with the previous week; lay moves last: feed, water, egg weight and cracked eggs move 4 to 7 days before.
- •Five-step reading: date, name the events, link, classify and decide in writing, set the expected figure.
- •In the example: heat from Tuesday 9, feed − 7.4 g, water/feed 2.65, cracked 2.8%, shell 9.1%, lay − 1.5 point only: act this week, before lay follows.
15 min read · 5-question quiz
- 10Case study: a 12-point drop in lay in ten days, write the diagnosis
An entrepreneur from the Abengourou area calls on a Monday: 'My hens went from 92 to 80% in ten days, they have something, they need a medicine.' His technician kept the laying record; the area's veterinarian came by on Saturday; the morning eggs are on the table. Everything is there to do better than guess. This lesson goes back over the ten days, clue by clue, applies the method of lessons 3 and 9, ranks the causes by their weight and their date, writes the diagnosis the technician hands to the entrepreneur, and says what should have been done before. It is the typical exercise of the specialisation exam.
What you will learn- ✓Reconstruct the timeline of a drop in lay from the record, the eggs and the observations
- ✓Apply the checklist (water, light, feed, heat, disturbances, health) and rule out what explains nothing
- ✓Rank the causes by their mechanism, their date and their weight, and forecast the recovery
- ✓Write a one-page diagnosis and a dated correction plan, and say what should have been done before
Lesson outline- The situation: what the technician has in front of him
- Dating and linking: the timeline of the clues
- Ranking the causes by their weight
- The written diagnosis: one page, handed over the same day
- What should have been done before
- Going further: the exam and the specialisation certificate
Key points- •A drop is diagnosed in order: date on the moving average, go back up the record, link each figure to an event, check (water, light, feed, heat, disturbances, health), rank by mechanism, date and weight, write prognosis and plan.
- •In this case: timer stuck 6 nights (12 h instead of 16) = about half of the 12 points and 1.5 to 2 lasting points; heat = 3 points; feed without coarse calcium = 2 points of lay and 3 points of cracked; disease ruled out by the veterinarian.
- •A day that shortens by 4 hours is an end-of-season signal: the ovary slows in 2 to 4 days and takes 3 to 6 weeks to restart, without quite returning to the previous level.
- •The diagnosis fits on one page: situation, timeline, ranked causes, quantified prognosis, dated and checkable correction plan, what should have been done before.
- •The specialisation exam awards the 'Laying hens, expert level' certificate, issued privately by NEXTEKCI.
15 min read · 5-question quiz
Frequently asked questions
At what age does a laying hen start laying?
A brown layer such as the Novogen Brown lays her first egg around 19 to 20 weeks, provided she has reached her weight (1,480 to 1,580 g at 18 weeks) and received her first extra hours of light at the right time. At 20 weeks, about 15% of the hens are laying; at 21-22 weeks, half; around 25 weeks, the flock exceeds 90%. A pullet that is too light or stimulated too early lays later, or earlier but small eggs all her life. The NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) teaches, in this specialisation, how to weigh the flock, measure its uniformity and decide the date of the first hour of light, rather than following a calendar.
How many eggs a year does a brown laying hen give?
In very good conditions, the Novogen Brown strain guide announces about 318 eggs per hen at 72 weeks and 362 at 80 weeks, that is a little over 300 eggs over a laying year. In an open-sided house in Côte d'Ivoire, with the afternoon heat, a good result lies between 270 and 300 eggs per hen housed over the flock, that is, counting the dead hens in the calculation. That figure, eggs per hen housed, is what really measures what a house earns. The lessons of the NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) show how to calculate it every week and how the pullet, feed, light and heat make it go up or down.
Why are my hens laying less?
A drop in lay almost always has a cause in the preceding days, and it is looked for in a fixed order: water (cut, warm water, blocked nipples), light (broken timer, burnt-out bulbs: a single night at 12 hours instead of 16 shows on lay a week later), feed (new batch, falling intake, missing calcium), heat (above 32 °C the hen eats less), disturbances (visits, works, predators), then health, which is described to the area's veterinarian. A fall of 1 to 3 points in one week is watched; more than 3 points is abnormal. The NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) teaches this checklist and the writing of a written diagnosis, with a case study of a 12-point drop.
Why are my eggshells thin or cracked?
The shell is deposited at night, from the calcium left in the gizzard and from the bone reserve. It gets thinner when the hen eats less (heat), when the feed lacks calcium or contains only fine calcium (at least half must be grains of 2 to 4 mm, given in the late afternoon), when the water is warm, when the hen ages or after a stress. It is measured simply: 20 eggs weighed, shells dried and weighed; below 9% of the egg weight, action is needed. Pale or soft shells in series are described to the area's veterinarian. The NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) details this test and the actions that bring the shell back.
How much feed does a laying hen eat a day?
In full lay, a brown layer eats 110 to 120 g of feed a day in mild weather, and drinks 1.8 to 2 times that volume in water. In 34-35 °C, she often goes down to 95 to 105 g and drinks 3 to 4 times more. For 2,000 hens, 220 to 240 kg of feed a day. What counts is not the percentage on the label but the grams actually eaten: a hen that eats 100 g of a 3.8% calcium feed receives 3.8 g, below the 4 g needed for a good shell. The NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) teaches this calculation, the feed phases and the actions that make a hen eat when it is hot.
How many laying hens per square metre on the floor?
In an open-sided house, in the climate of Côte d'Ivoire, the NEXTEKCI School recommends about 5 hens per m² on the floor: 2,000 hens therefore need 400 m², that is a house of 8 m by 50 m. Some manufacturers go to 6 or 7 per m² in a closed, ventilated house, but under the heat, beyond 5, queues at the feeders lengthen, floor eggs and pecking increase, the litter gets wet and the house produces fewer eggs per hen housed. You must also count 1 nest for 5 to 6 hens, 10 to 12 cm of feeder and 1 nipple for 8 to 10 hens. The NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) also compares, in units, the cage, floor and aviary systems.
Why are my hens laying on the floor and how do I get them to lay in the nests?
A hen lays on the floor when the nest is not ready or not attractive: nests opened too late (10 to 14 days before the first egg are needed), too high or without a step, too bright (under 5 lux), dirty or occupied at night, too few, or because a dark corner appeals to her more. The habit is taken in the first three weeks of lay. The actions that work: mesh the corners diagonally, close the nests at night, do four morning walk-throughs for three weeks to put crouching hens back in the nest, and aim at under 2% floor eggs after 30 weeks. The NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) teaches the floor-egg map that shows where to correct.
When should laying hens be culled, and should a moult be done?
Culling is generally decided between 72 and 80 weeks, when lay falls below the threshold where the eggs no longer pay for the feed (calculated with intake and the number of eggs that pay for a kilo of feed), when the shell can no longer be recovered, and counting back from the arrival of the next pullets, keeping 14 days of sanitary break. The induced moult, which gives a shorter and lower second cycle, is justified mainly when pullets are lacking; it is run without water or feed deprivation, with a low feed ad libitum, the opinion of the area's veterinarian and regular weighings. The NEXTEKCI School (Agnibilékrou) teaches this calculation and the decision with your own figures.
In conclusion
By the end of this specialisation, a laying record speaks to you: you see a drop coming four to seven days before it costs, you know which setting causes it and which action corrects it, and you hand the entrepreneur a one-page diagnosis with a dated plan. You also know how to say, with figures, when a flock must stop and how to prepare the next one. The final exam awards the 'Laying hens, expert level' specialisation certificate, issued privately by NEXTEKCI; it is neither a diploma nor a State title.